We eventually fixed it on the Holiday (Monday) as the tenant on the second floor is finally home.  2) Other tenants in the building have been telling me, and this morning I received a call complaining about tenant from 1) above due to loud noise generated by karaoke singing all the time in the weekday.

Can I put a clause in that I would make payments directly to the bank?  

Perhaps receiving a steady stream of income from the sale would be more attractive to her than one lump sum.

Any direction for this would be greatly appreciated!

@Eric Armstrong,I just received a HELOC 2 months ago for my SF investment.

That price included pumping, chemically treating, and ultimately collapsing the septic tank, directional boring 3/4 of the way around the house (.39 acre lot), two cleanouts installed, and he even removed a damaged cast iron stack pipe which had cracked in my foundation and updated it to PVC at no charge.I gave the overpriced $4,000 water equipment to a friend who had suffered from hard water and haven't had an issue with my new city water/sewer setup yet.Contact me if you'd like to chat further.

@Shane KelleyWe have no idea what your contract says, or the conditions.As for possible lien rights, as per Florida laws;Are you working for a gc, or directly for the owner?

Tons of great info in there and it might help point you in the direction you want to go.

If we purchase the house with our own funds what kind of loan would we need to get for the rehab and can someone point me in the right direction about how that type of financing works?

A deal was struck up soon after the initial contact, but the time difference added more time to getting the contracts arranged properly, sending and receiving, to the final signature.